5.  The applicant was born in 1956 and is serving a sentence of life imprisonment in the Netherlands.
6.  On an unspecified date in 1996 the applicant was detained in the Netherlands in connection with a request for his extradition to Turkey, where he was suspected of murder. During his detention, there were serious indications that the applicant’s life was at risk from foreign State or non-State agents.
7.  Shortly before his release in December 1996 – after a Netherlands court had ruled that the applicant’s extradition to Turkey was not permissible – the prison authorities received indications that the applicant and three co-detainees harboured escape plans. On 25 February 1998, the applicant filed a criminal complaint with the police, alleging that the Turkish authorities planned to kill him.
8.  On 27 March 1998 the applicant was arrested and placed in pre-trial detention (voorlopige hechtenis) on suspicion of having committed serious crimes within a violent criminal organisation in which he played a leading role. Criminal proceedings were brought against the applicant, who was sentenced in first-instance proceedings to twenty years’ imprisonment. On 30 July 2002, following proceedings on appeal, the Court of Appeal (gerechtshof) of ‘s-Hertogenbosch quashed the first-instance judgment, convicted the applicant of several offences and sentenced him to life imprisonment. His subsequent appeal on points of law to the Supreme Court (Hoge Raad) was dismissed on 21 October 2003.
9.  The applicant was initially detained in an ordinary remand centre (huis van bewaring). Shortly after he was apprehended, and on the basis of information indicating a risk that he would seek ways to escape and also reports that he was in danger of being “liquidated”, he was transferred to the National Segregation Unit (Landelijke Afzonderingsafdeling) in a Rotterdam detention facility.
10.  On 26 June 1998, on the advice of the special selection board of the maximum security institution (Extra Beveiligde Inrichting – “EBI”), the Minister of Justice decided to place the applicant in the pre-trial detention unit of the EBI, which is part of the Nieuw Vosseveld Penitentiary Complex in Vught. His detention in the EBI prison was reviewed and extended by the Minister every six months. The applicant unsuccessfully challenged each decision to extend before the Appeals Board (beroepscommissie) of the Central Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice (Centrale Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing). On 1 April 2001 the Central Council was replaced by the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles (Raad voor Strafrechtstoepassing en Jeugdbescherming).
11.  By letter of 16 July 2001 the applicant was informed that the Minister of Justice had decided to extend his detention in the EBI once again. According to information contained in the proposal of 25 June 2001 to extend the applicant’s stay in the EBI, he had not had any contact with social workers during the previous six months and apparently did not feel the need to have such contact. The proposal, which describes in detail the applicant’s attitude, behaviour and activities in the EBI, does not mention any psychological problems encountered by the applicant caused by his detention in the EBI.
12.  The letter of 16 July 2001, in its relevant part, reads as follows:
“From the information available about you, it appears that you must be regarded as likely to try to escape (vluchtgevaarlijk). On this subject, I would inform you as follows.
Official reports (ambtsberichten) that have been received point out that – quite apart from your membership of a criminal organisation – you are suspected of having committed serious crimes. You are suspected of leadership of an international criminal organisation that must be regarded as very violent. You are suspected of having personally instigated very serious and very violent crimes that have seriously undermined law and order. You have since been sentenced at first instance to twenty years’ imprisonment, after a sentence of life imprisonment was sought [by the prosecution]. You have lodged an appeal.
When you were being transferred to the Breda Regional Court (arrondissementsrechtbank) and the National Segregation Unit in Rotterdam on 8 April 1998 and 10 April 1998 respectively, “suspect” cars were observed [whose registered owners] may have been connected to persons with a criminal background. You have indicated that you(r family) are wealthy. It is therefore also reasonable to conclude that you are capable of providing financial backing for escape plans, in this instance for the organisation of an escape (attempt) via the hiring of third parties.
Also during a previous detention, in the ... detention facility, there were indications, on 29 November 1996, that you had plans to mount an escape together with others, in an operation involving a firearm. On 9 December 1996, in the same detention facility, information (was found) that could be connected to the indications referred to above. Your previous detention was a consequence of the fact that Turkey (unsuccessfully, as it later transpired) had requested your extradition in connection with serious crimes.
As during your previous detention, you have indicated that you are being threatened with “liquidation”, even whilst in detention. You also lodged a criminal complaint to that effect with the Rotterdam police on 25 February 1998. Accordingly, as during your previous detention, you were transferred – in view of the seriousness of the information, which became apparent after the investigation – [to the National Segregation Unit on 10 April 1998] in order to secure not only your safety but also the order, peace and security of the prison where you were detained. The fears which you expressed were confirmed once more in May 1998 by official reports.
On 13 September 1999 you and your sister, who was visiting you, acted in breach of the rules governing the regime in the EBI. Your sister allowed you to read uncensored reports which she then destroyed. Disciplinary action was taken against you as a result.
With reference to the contents of the third paragraph, I would inform you that in January 2001 the presence of another “suspicious” car was noted near the EBI around the time of your transfer to the Rotterdam Regional Court. Three persons who had been travelling in the car were present in the courtroom on 25 January 2001. They turned out to have criminal records.
On 30 October 2000 you and a co-detainee had a conversation about one of the latter’s escape attempts elsewhere in the Netherlands. In this context the co-detainee concerned told you that he had paid 25,000 Netherlands guilder for this. It was noted that your co-detainee added that ‘that would never succeed here because the staff and the Governor work closely together’.
In the meantime, after life imprisonment was sought [by the prosecution], you have been sentenced at first instance to twenty years’ imprisonment. You have lodged an appeal.
An escape on your part would be unacceptable to society and would seriously undermine law and order, having regard to the serious crimes of which you are suspected and, in this case, of which you have been convicted at first instance. If plans to “liquidate” you were to materialise, this would give rise to offences creating social unrest and seriously undermining law and order.
In view of the above, the [EBI] selection board, having heard evidence from the selection officer (with whom you refused to speak), has advised me to continue your detention in the EBI. I have taken a decision to that effect.
To give you as full a picture as possible, I would further inform you that the rules governing the EBI regime offer added guarantees for preventing the implementation of (possible) plans to “liquidate” you. In this connection it must be mentioned, with reference to what has been stated above, that (at the beginning of 2000) “liquidation plans” concerning you came to light within the EBI, in this case death threats by third persons. You indicated that you took these threats very seriously; you appeared frightened and it was clear that they had made an impression on you.”
13.  On 25 July 2001 the applicant, as in the case of the previous decisions to extend, again challenged the extension of his stay in the EBI by lodging an appeal with the Appeals Board of the Council for the Administration of Criminal Justice and Protection of Juveniles. In his appeal against the decision of 16 July 2001 the applicant challenged the necessity of his continued detention in the EBI. He also stated that he was suffering both physically and mentally as a result of the EBI detention regime without, however, substantiating that claim. Relying on the findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“CPT”) in respect of its visit to the EBI in 1997 and on the Court’s decision on admissibility of 28 August 2001 in the case of Van der Ven v. the Netherlands (no. 50901/99), he argued that his (continued) detention in the EBI infringed his rights under Articles 3 and 8 of the Convention on account of the EBI detention regime.
14.  On 27 February 2002 the Appeals Board dismissed the appeal. It held, on the basis of the different elements set out in the impugned decision, that the applicant was extremely likely to try to escape and, in view of the offences of which he was suspected, that he posed an unacceptable risk in terms of the danger of his committing further serious violent crimes. Noting that the applicant was suspected of offences in respect of which a twenty-year prison sentence had been imposed at first instance and which were a source of grave concern to society and public opinion, the Appeals Board was of the opinion that the applicant, in the event of an escape, would pose an unacceptable risk to society. It also took into account the fact that specific threats to kill the applicant or to have him killed had repeatedly come to light. It therefore concluded that the applicant’s stay in the EBI corresponded to both situations provided for in Article 6 (a) and (b) of the Regulation on the selection, placement and transfer of detainees (Regeling selectie, plaatsing en overplaatsing van gedetineerden) of 15 August 2000. As regards the applicant’s reliance on the Convention, it held that the proceedings on the extension of the applicant’s stay in the EBI fell outside the scope of Article 6 of the Convention and that the interference with the rights guaranteed by Article 8 § 1 of the Convention was permissible to the extent that such interference was in accordance with the law and necessary in a democratic society in the interests of, inter alia, the prevention of disorder or crime. Lastly, it held that the decision to extend the applicant’s stay in the EBI was lawful and that, weighing up all the interests involved, it could not be considered as unreasonable or unjust. It did not deal with the applicant’s argument that the extension of his stay in the EBI was contrary to Article 3 of the Convention.
15.  In the meantime, on 21 December 2001, the applicant’s detention in the EBI had been extended again. His appeal to the Appeals Board was dismissed on 30 May 2002 on the same grounds as those given in the Appeal Board’s decision of 27 February 2002.
16.  On 21 May 2002 the applicant’s detention in the EBI was extended once more. The applicant lodged an appeal with the Appeals Board against this decision on 30 May 2002. No further information has been submitted about these appeal proceedings.
17.  On 24 December 2003 the applicant was transferred from the EBI to another prison with a different regime.
18.  On 23 March 2004 Dr R.J.P. Rijnders – a psychiatrist attached to the Centre 1945 Foundation (Stichting Centrum ‘45), a national centre for the medical-psychological treatment of members of the Resistance in the Second World War, victims of war and organised violence, and asylum seekers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder related to experiences in their country of origin – drew up a report on the applicant’s state of mental health. According to the report the applicant had developed various mental problems (chronic post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and a strong tendency towards somatisation) during his detention in the EBI. The post-traumatic stress phenomena were mainly linked to his experiences in the EBI and only some of his complaints and symptoms were connected with his experiences in Turkey.
19.  On 10 August 2004 the applicant brought a civil action in tort (onrechtmatige daad) against the Netherlands State before the Hague Regional Court. One of the grounds on which he claimed payment of compensation in respect of non-pecuniary damage for unlawful acts for which he considered the Netherlands State to be liable was that, from his arrest in March 1998 until the end of December 2003, he had been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment on account of the conditions of his detention, including “(continuous) sensory deprivation and insufficient social contact (extensive social isolation), humiliating and unnecessary strip-searches, frisking, [and] being prohibited (inter alia) from communicating in Kurdish with, for instance, his mother and children”. The applicant based this part of his claim on the Court’s findings in its judgments of 4 February 2003 in the cases of Van der Ven v. the Netherlands (no. 50901/99, ECHR 2003-II) and Lorsé and Others v. the Netherlands (no. 52750/99), the findings of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) as set out in two reports (see paragraphs 46-47 below), a report drawn up on 10 October 2003 by academic researchers on the psychological impact of the EBI regime on the mental well-being of (former) inmates (see paragraph 23 below), and the report drawn up on 23 March 2004 by the psychiatrist R.J.P. Rijnders (see paragraph 18 above). These civil proceedings are currently pending before the Regional Court.